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Road-rage killer of Camillus man may get early prison release because of bad health

victims truck 2.JPG

The wreckage of Christopher Spack's pickup truck after William LeVea repeatedly rammed into it in a drunken road-rage attack in November 2009 in the Cayuga County town of Cato. Spack, who died in the crash, had called 911 minutes earlier to report another motorist was harassing him.
(Cayuga County Sheriff's Office)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. - A Fulton man convicted in the alcohol-fueled road-rage killing of a Camillus man five years ago has been found eligible for early release from prison because he's suffering from health problems.

The family of the victim, Christopher Spack, was outraged Thursday to learn that the state Parole Board is considering releasing William LeVea, 83, more than a year before his earliest parole date.

William LeVeaState Department of Correctional Services

"This guy has hurt many people in his life," said Spack's brother, Tim Ellis. "He's been a criminal his whole life. He killed my brother. He killed somebody years ago in a bar fight. This has traumatized our family all over again."

LeVea is serving 6 to 18 years in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated vehicular homicide and driving while intoxicated.

He was accused of repeatedly smashing his car into Spack's pickup truck Nov. 20, 2009, on Route 370 in the Cayuga County town of Cato. LeVea had pursued Spack at high speeds, ramming him every time he could, until Spack's truck spun into an oncoming vehicle and killed him.

LeVea is up for a medical parole hearing in the week of April 21, said Taylor Vogt, a spokeswoman for the state prison system.

Since a state law was enacted in 1992 to allow early parole for medical problems, 410 state prisoners have been released early, Vogt said. She said she could not disclose LeVea's medical condition.

But Spack's family this week received a letter that the state prison system sent to the Cayuga County District Attorney's Office that includes information on LeVea's health problems.

The parole board's considering LeVea's early release based on an application for medical parole submitted by his daughter, Kathleen LeVea.

Reached today, she said, "This is a very private matter, and I'd rather not speak about it."

A state prison physician found that William LeVea suffers from a terminal illness, the letter said. It does not specify the illness. LeVea suffers from dementia and cardiac-related issues, and needs a wheelchair to get around at Livingston Correctional Facility in Geneseo, the letter said.

"Those are all treatable conditions," said Tim Ellis, who's an emergency medical technician. "Maybe he needs to be moved to another facility. But to be turned over to his reckless family, that would be absolutely crazy."

LeVea's family was supposed to be taking care of him in November 2009 when he got behind the wheel of a car drunk and rammed into Spack's truck, Tim Ellis said.

To be eligible for medical parole, a prisoner has to either be terminally ill or have a "significant and permanent non-terminal condition, disease or syndrome," according to a state prison system's directive.

The prisoner has to be so debilitated that "there is a reasonable probability that he or she no longer presents a danger to society," the directive says.

The family has until April 14 to submit any written opposition to LeVea's release.

Christopher Spack

LeVea's scheduled to appear for a hearing before a state parole board under a "special consideration" during the week of April 21. Spack's family and the public will not be allowed at the hearing, Vogt said.

(Note: a previous version of this story said the hearing would be the week of April 28. Vogt notified syracuse.com that she'd provided the wrong date, and that the hearing will be the week of April 21).

Spack's mother, Lenore Ellis, asked that anyone in the community who has concerns about LeVea's release let the parole board know. Written statements can be sent to the state prison system: https://www.parole.ny.gov/letters.html (Note: the link previously listed in this story was for victims and their families. This link is for the public).

Before he pleaded guilty in 2011, LeVea claimed to have no memory of the crash. His blood-alcohol content was 0.16 percent, prosecutors said.

At LeVea's arraignment in 2010, Cayuga County Judge Thomas Leone spoke of the danger of LeVea ever being free again.

"I don't have any faith that if Mr. Levea was placed back in the community he or his family has the ability to protect the community," the judge said

It wasn't LeVea's first brush with the law. He was sentenced to five years' probation for the 1967 beating death of an Oswego County man in a Fulton bar. In 1954, LeVea was sentenced to five to 10 years in prison for a robbery.

Six years before killing Spack, LeVea smashed into the back of a woman's car on Interstate 81 in Syracuse. She was stopped there behind a disabled vehicle. LeVea got out of his car and told the woman, "I'm the one that hit you. What the hell you doing in the middle of the road?"